Geriatric Physical Therapist: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

A licensed physical therapist, including but not limited to an individual who is a Board Certified Specialist in Geriatric Physical Therapy, who has demonstrated specialized knowledge and skill in the comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment and evidence-based management of movement in aging adults. This includes, but is not limited to, specialized knowledge in and consideration of normal age-related changes and pathological manifestations across all systems; cognition and mental health; polypharmacy; fall risk mitigation; bone health; healthy and active aging, and socioeconomic and health policy issues affecting aging adults. The geriatric physical therapist is an integral part of the interdisciplinary geriatric team and serves as an advocate for the highest level of well-being for the older adult.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, 851 of 2,447 active records, or 34.8%, are flagged as sole proprietors in NPPES. This field is self-reported and can help describe how records are registered, but it is an imperfect proxy for private practice because it does not by itself establish ownership, employment arrangement, or whether a clinician works independently.

By state

New NPI registrations by year

Counts reflect the year each NPI was first issued, among records still active today. The final year is partial: this data covers through 2026-01-11.

Data notes

• The sole-proprietor field is self-reported by the provider in NPPES and is an imperfect proxy for private practice.
• A sole-proprietor count shown as <11 is suppressed: the true value is below 11, which could include zero.
• These are active NPI records with this taxonomy as the primary classification, not a direct count of individual clinicians, practice locations, or patient volume.
• First-enumeration counts describe when NPIs were issued, not necessarily when clinicians entered practice or began treating aging adults.
• Providers are counted once, by their primary taxonomy code only.

Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Data Dissemination file, FOIA-disclosable public data under CMS-6060-N. Aggregated by Hero EMR on 2026-08-03; deactivated NPIs excluded; specialty assigned from the primary taxonomy code (NUCC 25.1). Counts below 11 are suppressed. Individual providers are never published. All provider data pages.

Common questions